Sheila Copps corrals endorsements in run for Liberal presidency

OTTAWA — Several high-profile Manitoba Liberals Wednesday threw their support behind former MP Sheila Copps to be the party’s next president.

Just over a week before the Liberal biennial convention in Ottawa, Copps released a list of more than four dozen endorsements from current and former MPs, senators and other Liberal bigwigs. The list includes University of Winnipeg president and former Liberal cabinet minister Lloyd Axworthy, former Assembly of First Nations national chief Ovide Mercredi and Manitoba’s sole Liberal MP, Kevin Lamoureux. Recently retired senator Sharon Carstairs has also backed Copps.

Lamoureux said he feels Copps is the most dynamic and experienced in the field and believes she will help turn the party around.

He said the importance of the election of the president and the decisions being debated at the convention next weekend can’t be overstated.

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“If this convention fails and we don’t make some smart decisions, we’re setting ourselves up for mediocre,” said Lamoureux. “And mediocre means staying in opposition for the foreseeable future.”

The Liberals have been soul-searching since the party was reduced a third-place finish in the election last May. With just 34 MPs elected, it was the worst Liberal showing in Canadian history and marked the first time the Liberals are neither government nor official Opposition in the House of Commons.

The choice of a party president is receiving more attention than usual in part because of the Liberals’ renewal process. With the leadership contest put off until 2013, it’s the first chance Liberals have to put a stamp on party renewal since the election and the first step to figuring out how to bring millions of voters back to the Liberal fold. It’s also the first time in years there has been a strong contest for the job.

Copps is one of five people seeking the presidency. Also on the ballot are Mike Crawley, former president of the Liberal’s Ontario wing, Ron Hartling, the president of the Liberal riding association for Kingston and the Islands, former Quebec MP Alexandra Mendes, and Charles Ward, former vice-president of Air France Cargo and the sole candidate from Western Canada.

Many of the candidates are running on platforms to re-engage grassroots Liberals, give more power to riding associations, improve membership drives and improve fundraising.

Copps, for instance, has a plan to appoint a spokesperson in every riding to respond anytime the government does something. Their first assignment will be to respond to and engage local Liberals when the government releases its next budget in the spring. Using social media and scheduling at least three events in each riding each year with national speakers is also part of her plan.

Crawley was in Winnipeg Wednesday stumping for votes with delegates from Manitoba’s 14 ridings. He said the Liberals have to stop thinking the election last May was the big loss and realize the party has been losing supporters for more than three decades.

“We’ve only defeated a single united Conservative party once since 1980,” he said.

Crawley said the party has to become a party of ideas again, and proposes giving more weight to ideas proposed by party supporters and not just at conventions. Online forums, where ideas can be proposed, debated and voted on should be happening all the time, he said. Ideas that get support should immediately go to caucus and the party executive for discussion and should be included in party policy unless the leader or the executive can give a written reason why not.

The convention isn’t just about picking a president however. The three-day event will include numerous debates and discussions on hot-button issues such as legalizing marijuana and establishing a preferential ballot for elections.

The most anticipated is a resolution from the national executive to elect the next leader using a U.S.-style primary contest. The plan would see anyone who wants to pledge themselves as a Liberal sign up to vote, and then contests and votes would be held in each province to allow as many people as possible to participate. Supporters wouldn’t have to buy a party membership and could also vote in nomination contests for candidates. Party membership would bring with it the added ability to vote for national executives and be delegates at policy conventions.

Lamoureux said this proposal is his first and only priority at the convention.

“I would be happy, no, I would be ecstatic if the membership and delegates see the opportunity before us to enfranchise every Canadian from coast to coast,” said Lamoureux.